The Gallifrey Chronicles: A new war
by undercoverangelgirl
Summary: When a young girl turns up at Torchwood claiming to be the Doctor's daughter is she really? And just why is her story about the Time war different than the Doctor's? Secrets and lies will be revealed.


Emmaline glanced back at her home planet for the briefest moment. She had to admit she was glad to leave. She tried to remember what had started it all, but a vague memory kept playing over and over again, though she was never sure if it was a real memory or not. She had always known that her people could distort memories; it was a century-old art.

It started, she supposed, within the time vortex itself — a battle between the Daleks and the Time Lords. The Time Lords reached back into history for terrible weapons to win the war, weapons that had become so deadly in the wrong hands that the Time Lords had destroyed them. But in later years it had become necessary to have those deadly weapons in their hands again as the Daleks unleashed the Deathsmiths of Goth. For centuries the war waged on. She had been just a child when her father was forced to join the fighting on Gallifrey, and as the final Time War had commenced, it began to affect higher races as Time and Space were altered. The Nestene's food planets were destroyed and the Gelths planets were obliterated, killing them all. Lower races such as humans were left untouched, and knew nothing of the war that raged above their heads and in their history.

Both races went back in time to stop any loss, but time was tearing at the seams. Emmaline knew — as everyone did, whether they'd admit it or not — that it had to end, and soon.

She'd never seen her father again. Eight years old, and she had lost her daddy to a war she could neither understand or sympathize with. "_Your father is dead," spat the Lord President." And what a failure he was! He never amounted to anything, and you are going the same way," he hissed at her as tears fell down her face. "Stop your crying, child! I don't have time for a useless spawn of an idiot!"_

She shook her head and pushed the memory away. She would prove him wrong. She would become someone. She would help humanity. She would be a hero like her daddy had been.

As she slipped into her TARDIS, the door slammed shut. "SOL 3, Earth," she said to herself as she set the controls.

Her TARDIS was much better than some of her people's raggedy models; type 40s and 50s were old and had been discontinued centuries ago. Emmaline had a type 70 and originally hers was shaped as a big red double-decker bus, but it would disguise itself to blend in wherever she was. Inside it was huge and homey, with lilac walls and pictures of her family and friends hanging in multi-coloured frames. She had a few bedrooms, a library, a swimming pool, study room, dining room, workshop and even a gym, though most of the time she was too busy to enjoy such amenities.

Suddenly the TARDIS started to rattle. Her mug of hot chocolate flew up into air, smashing over the console and spilling everywhere as sparks flew. An error warning flashed "FAILURE ERROR" on the screen as the TARDIS started to pick up speed. "No!" She tried to gain control, but the system was locked.

It's going to crash, she thought as it slammed into the century-old city hall clock in Cardiff. It shattered, pieces flung a mile away. It wreaked unimaginable destruction as it made its way to the ground, but Emmaline didn't notice; she was too busy trying not to be dashed to death on her own equipment. With a thud that threw her into the air, the TARDIS landed.

The lights flickered in one last brave attempt to survive, and then went out. She stared around her in numb horror, at smashed controls and pieces of metal and plastic. Pieces of the ceiling were falling out, and the floor was a craggy mess spotted with craters. It was a disaster. She hurried over to the controls and stabbed one of the few remaining buttons with her index finger. The screen remained black and dead, like the still air. "No . . . no, please don't die on me. Please, you can't be dead!" But she could feel it, a heaviness in her heart that was her connection to the TARDIS. She used to feel a glow of life, and the absence was cold and empty.

Emmaline stumbled out of the TARDIS. She would be stuck on Earth now this miserable forsaken planet, cut off from her own people without help or protection. Even if it was possible to fix the TARDIS, she wouldn't be able to because the Time Lords had put a block on her knowledge of being able to do such things. They had told her if she ever ventured away from Gallifrey, they would take the secret of time travel away from her. She silently cursed the Time Lords, hating what they had become: power-mad conspirators. She refused to be like that.

"Oh, no. No, no, no . . ." she moaned, her pain so strong that it seemed to transcend emotion and felt like physical pain. Felt, in fact, like a very strong head wound. . . .

She lifted a hand to her head and pulled it away sticky and warm with blood. The world started spinning, and she collapsed, feeling everything drift away into darkness.


End file.
